Engagement Matters
Engagement changes things. It is the heart of We Engage – it is in our name. We Engage works to engage the public in destigmatizing abortion and protecting access to safe, legal abortion by showing what is happening outside clinics. Your engagement matters, and together we can change things. Another type of engagement that matters is the engagement that happens at clinics between clinic escorts and anti-abortion protesters or “antis”.
One of the things about engagement at clinics that people may not realize from watching the Pinkhouse Defenders social media pages is that the Pinkhouse Defenders are unusual in the “clinic escort world.”
The Pinkhouse Defenders interact with the antis that come to “sidewalk counsel” (harass) patients and preach at the clinic, as well as escort patients. That type of interaction between clinic escorts and antis is actually NOT the norm across the country.
For years now, largely driven by organizations such as Planned Parenthood and NARAL, and followed as a standard by others, almost all clinics or clinic escort groups have a “non-engagement” policy in place prohibiting almost ANY interaction between escorts and protesters.
It is a common belief that any engagement with antis escalates their behavior, thereby making the escort responsible for the escalation. We Engage rejects this idea. The responsibility for the antis’ behavior lies with antis. Antis come to clinics to harass and intimidate providers, patients and companions, under the cover of the First Amendment rights of free speech and religious freedom.
In the escort community, there is a stigma associated with engagement. It is believed that non-engagement helps the space outside clinics to be less chaotic. However, it could be said that with no check on their behaviors, antis are able to operate at will on the sidewalks. While there is a place for de-escalation and ignoring antis, they cannot be the only ways to deal with situations. There have to be more options to deal with challenges presented on the sidewalks.
We Engage believes engagement can be used as a tool to shield patients, to distract antis, and to discourage some antis from even coming to the sidewalk, with the goal of making it less welcoming on the sidewalk for antis.
It could be said that when you put on a clinic escort’s vest – you have engaged. In effect, clinic escorts are not only escorts, but counter-protesters. Escorts should be able to have their right to free speech respected, as well be allowed to use whatever reasonable methods are available to ensure the patients’ safety and comfort for the short term of the visit, and for the long term goal of protecting abortion access overall.
And again, that engagement matters. In this time of protest, we all know protest matters. We have watched protest work for the last 40 years as anti-abortion protesters have worked to take away our access to safe, legal abortion – and they have been incredibly effective.
For instance, it seems we are always one court decision away from losing our right to abortion. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June Medical Services v. Russo could come this week, and access could be even further restricted. It should have never come down to one more court decision.
We are fighting battles of last resort in the courts for our rights because we have lost the battle in the court of public opinion.
In fact, it could be said we never even engaged in the battle, because we ceded the most basic public forum, the battlefield as it were - the sidewalk - to the antis with the policy of non-engagement.
With non-engagement, we watched as the antis filled the sidewalks with huge posters of ugly “fetal porn” lies and bullhorns constantly spewing false narratives of “baby murder” and “abortion regret” with no counter pro-choice messaging to take up space alongside it.
From the sidewalks, the antis’ stigmatizing language and lies permeated our culture, picked up by the media, using their terminology like “pro-life” and “late-term abortion” then the public understands abortion on their false terms. And then all of the anti-abortion legislation the antis lobby for is passed with no problem.
Abortion rights supporters are then left looking around at each other, scrambling, rallying at capitols and courthouses saying “stop the bans” when we should have been saying something on the sidewalk to counter the false narrative at the very beginning. By the time the legislation is passed and the court battles are being fought over it, we have waited too long - it is too late.
We know protest changes things; we can see it. Yet with non-engagement, we stand silent in the face of protests that are taking away our rights. And then we even discourage counter-protesters, those that would come and speak up in defense of the rights we are losing.
Clinics such as Planned Parenthood and NARAL that set standards, and escort teams, have long told people to just write a letter and a check instead of protesting, because they did not want them present at clinics with antis, fearing more people would be confusing and frightening for patients. It is already a circus outside clinics because antis are out on the sidewalks with little to no check on their behavior. However, when coordinating support at clinic spaces when patients are present, it must ALWAYS be coordinated to put patient safety and comfort above all else.
We reject those that would help, then go hold rallies outside of courthouses and statehouses to decry yet another court case or unconstitutional abortion law, at a point where it is too late to make a difference. We have seen it repeated far too often.
With everything happening all around us now, we know protest works. Our situation is urgent. We can’t keep doing the same thing and expect a different result. We all know what that is.
At what point do we reassess what WE are doing in this process? Is it too late?
We Engage believes that the day of remaining silent in the face of those who want to take away other people’s freedom – their autonomy - should be reassessed. We can’t keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result. In clinic escort circles, there has been this delineation of escort (non-engagement) vs. defender (engagement/protester) that the Pinkhouse Defenders walks every day. We Engage wants to help interested clinic groups find that balance to take back the sidewalks from the antis at clinics and begin to engage on behalf of patients.
We Engage believes that the day of asking supporters who want to counter-protest to write a letter and a check is over. The lack of coordination with those who seek to support patients and abortion access at clinics is something that can and should be welcomed and coordinated. We cannot afford to turn away support. However, support at clinic spaces when patients are present MUST be coordinated to put patient safety and comfort above all else.
We Engage believes clinics escorts and defenders shouldn’t be necessary – THAT is the ultimate goal. That is what We Engage is all about - being able to access abortion care in a safe, legal and comfortable environment, without clinic escorts or defenders being necessary. But we have a long way to go to get there, and it will take everyone’s engagement to make that happen. There is room for more than one approach to get us there.
Let’s all work together and make it happen – it’s going to take ALL of us.
Right now, all of our engagement matters more than ever.
#engagementmatters #weengage #pinkhousedefenders
